Category: Music

Jack has had to expand his activities during quarantine, and only after I boot him off XBox. It’s amazing what can be accomplished when you have the time (or are forced to.) None of these things would have been possible without this virus to keep us home and steadily burning through our boredom activities. One by one. Until you’re scratching around at the bottom of the barrel for something to do.

Here are the top 10 phrases I can recall recently that will give you a glimpse into what Jack has decided to do with his free time.

10.
Jack: Where’s the stand for that old electric keyboard? I’m gonna learn how to play piano!
me: We don’t have a keyboard stand soooo you’re out of luck there.
Jack: I need to go to the bathroom now.
me: And that takes care of that…

9.
Jack: I’m going to check out my legos.
me: Why don’t you pick out the ones you want to get rid of and I can take them to Goodwill?
Jack: Not gonna happen.

8.
Jack: Mom, these plants are NOT gonna grow if you don’t move them into the sun! (he fussily moves the baby squash plants into the patch of sun on the floor like a worried grandpa.)

7.
Jack: Check out the rose I drew for Spanish class. (he shows me a line drawing he did on his laptop, of a rose and a book).
me: That’s so cool Jack. You should color it in.
Jack: No, I like it like this. Now I need to order a stylus so I can do real drawings.

6.
Jack: I went for a run today. Now my heel hurts.

5.
Jack: (helping me cook dinner) This is either really going to be awesome or really going to suck. There’s no in between here.

3.
Jack: I want to go through all my old school papers.
me: They’re organized in folders by grade, so please just put them back in the right folder and in order ok?
Jack: Um, it’s not rocket science mom.
(later…I look on the floor and the papers are scattered and completely NOT back in the folder where he got them…grrrrr…)

2.
Jack: I’ll vacuum but only if you buy a new one. This one doesn’t even spin!
(I immediately bought a new one on Amazon. Arrives Friday!)

1.
Jack: Oh look! My old drones! (the animals went crazy over this one…)

I hope you are all not going completely crazy at home, and that all your kids and spouses and animals are still getting along. Jack and I keep our distance, joining up for dinner and maybe some TV. Maybe. PoBo kept trying to sit on my neck while I typed this in bed. Moca is sleeping on my foot. Luna is at the end of the bed looking regal. Jack is… still in the bathroom.

Typical night here! Be safe everyone! In CT tomorrow we now have to wear our masks full time while in public. Praying for this to be over soon.

Today I had a very long but fun day with Jack and his girlfriend Alexa. Yes Jack has a GF!! OMG!! They’ve been “exclusive” since the summer of 2017. Oh Em Gee. And yes, they are adorable etc etc etc. We started our day at 7:15am and ended it at 9:15pm! It’s easy to fill a day with outlet shopping, seafood lunch, beach combing, and a carnival. Whew.

On the car ride up to the beach we were listening to Queen and confirming that Freddy Mercury indeed had a British accent but sang pretty flawlessly without a trace of that accent.

Also, if you haven’t seen Bohemian Rhapsody, what the hell are you waiting for? I loved it and the actors that played Freddy Mercury and Brian May. They were really on point. I really hope Rami Malek gets an Oscar for this performance.

Anyhoo…back to the car ride…

Alexa: How come these singers all do not have an accent when they sing?

me: Yeah, isn’t that funny? Any person that speaks English with an accent can generally sing without an accent. I’ve read about that and hear it with certain bands. Even German bands sing in English with almost NO accent.

Alexa: That’s kind of weird.

me: Also, that’s how some actors from other countries can speak with a perfect American accent. They treat it sort of like singing and they open their mouths and throats to exaggerate the sound and it helps them to lose the accent.

Jack: Yeah but the only thing they aren’t opening is their arteries from eating all the greasy American food.

Jack had a surprise band concert this week. I say it’s a surprise because I only heard about it on Monday and the concert was On Tuesday. Talk about giving a little notice eh?

Me: Jack, how come you didn’t tell me about this concert! If we had some notice I would have invited some people! Now we’re rushing around and our schedule is all messed up 😦

Jack: I told you about it last year remember?

Me: sigh.

🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷

Later that night…

Me: you guys were so awesome at your concert… You looked like you were having fun…

Jack: Well, that 2nd song was impossible to play I kept getting confused.

Me: I thought you guys practiced? You should have practiced more?

Jack: You don’t understand…that song has confusing parts and the timing signatures are all messed up and 4/4 goes down to 2/4 and then the rests are only half as long in those parts but you don’t know that so it was very confusing to play.

Me: Um. Oh.

🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷🎷

Lol! I didn’t even know what he was saying it was so funny and I’m sure I messed up exactly what he said. But he ranted for like a full minute with all these words about timing and rests and fourths LOL. I so do not know how to read music that it is hysterical.

I love love love “Better Now” by Post Malone. I think it’s genius. Seriously. Before I knew who he was, I was like yep, this is good stuff and this kid is going to be huge.

Some weeks later, a newer Post Malone song came on the radio in the car. Jack and I were driving somewhere and I had high hopes that I would like the new song. But, after a few minutes I couldn’t listen anymore. It was repetitive, and a bit annoying for some reason I guess, and it was starting to get on my nerves. 🙂

me: (turning off the radio) Ugh, I’ve had about enough of that song. Geez.

Jack: Funny, just the other day you were saying he’s such a talented artist and now you can’t stand him. Hmmmm…

Jack and I were in the Store looking at toys and I saw that old Fisher-Price record player that has the plastic disks with the bumps on them, and as it spins the handle catches the bumps and plays music. I don’t think Jack has ever seen a real record player… when he was little I maybe brought him into my basement and played a 45 on the little record player I had as a kid. Who knows what a 45 is?? Haha.

me: Ohh look it’s an old fashioned record player. I had this when I was a kid!
Jack: What’s that?
me: We used it to play our records (blank stare from Jack), you know… Music?

Listening to music with Jack (or any 8-year-old) is a challenge because they like to hear the same songs over and over and over and over and…

If there’s a song they like, you have to have it on continual repeat. Just try and sneak in one of your favorites and see what happens. The groans, the “this sucks”, the whining, etc etc. I tell Jack “look, let’s listen to one of my songs and see if maybe you’ll like it.” Jack usually makes such a ruckus that I start the song over. Because I couldn’t hear it the first time. Then the groans get louder. So I start it over again. This goes on a few times, and then Jack actually wins. I can’t take it. I put on Avicci again. Not that he isn’t awesome or that his song is one of my favorites. But really. High rotation on every channel, and then constant repeat in my car. I dream of this song. I hear it when I wake up. It starts to haunt you after awhile.

So, in the car today I put on the freaken Avicci, and then skipped ahead to Lenny Kravitz. I was just in the mood people!

me: Jack, listen to this next song. It’s pretty cool. I listened to it when I was in college.

Jack: No one wants to relive the music from the 80’s mom. (he really says this and I really don’t know where he picked this up!)

me: Sigh. Just listen. You might like it. How do you think you got to like all the other songs that you actually like.

Jack: They were good.

me: Just. Listen. (I start the song over because he biotched through the beginning)

Jack: (whine)

me: Listen. It’s saying “it’s not over til it’s over”. Do you know what that means?

Jack: It means its annoying?

me: Listen! For Pete’s sake. Sheesh.

Jack: Who is this anyway?

me: Lenny Kravitz.

Jack: Who? Lenny Crapitz?

me: Knock it off Jack.

Jack: Sorry.

me: So, if you say it’s not over til it’s over, it means don’t give up on…

Jack: (interrupts) Yeah you’ve told me this once or twice or A THOUSAND TIMES.